This book provides a recipe for healthy moral and personal transformation. Belliotti takes seriously Dante’s deepest yearnings: to guide human well-being; to elevate social and political communities; to remedy the poisons spewed by the seven capital vices; and to celebrate the connections between human self-interest, virtuous living, and spiritual salvation. By closely examining and analyzing five of Dante’s more vivid characters in hell—Piero della Vigna, Brunetto Latini, Farinata degli Uberti, Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti, and Guido da Montefeltro—and extracting the moral lessons Dante intends them to convey, and by conceptually analyzing envy, arrogance, pride, and human flourishing, the author challenges readers to interrogate and refine their modes of living.
Table of Content
1. Introduction.- 2. How Honor Degenerates into Infamy: Piero della Vigna (1190-1249).- 3. The Malevolent Residue of Excessive Loyalty: Piero, Esoterica, and Suicide.- 4. How to Earn Immortality: Brunetto Latini (1220-1294).- 5. The Glories and Iniquities of Heroism, Patriotism, and Paternal Love: Farinata degli Uberti (1212-1264) and Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti (c. 1220-c.1280).- 6. How Prodigious Talent Can be Squandered: Guido da Montefeltro (1223-1298).- 7. Envy, Arrogance, Pride, and Human Flourishing.
About the author
Raymond Angelo Belliotti is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy Emeritus. He is the author of 22 books, including Justifying Law; Good Sex; What is the Meaning of Human Life?; Happiness is Overrated ; Roman Philosophy and the Good Life; Shakespeare and Philosophy; Jesus or Nietzsche?; and Machiavelli’s Secret.
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